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She looked up at hier that the truth shall be knoo survived the explosion of Richard&039;s ship, the Peace-Richard and one by the naators in the wild, or in any so-called hu on your truth, sir We are innocent of what you seem so desperate to find as fact"
"We&039;ll see, won&039;t we?" he asked
He turned and walked away Theher words as if she were obviously the most heinous liar-disturbed her She leaped to her feet, following hiht up with him away from the tarp and the fires that burned on the beach
She slaainst his back, hard He turned to stare at her, a scowl tensing his features "What?"
"I&039;m not a spy! I&039;m not an assassin! Neither is Richard"
"Spy, assassin-those facts need corroboration and truth Your friend is a blockade runner, at the very least"
"Not Gator!"
"And you?" he asked, an edge to his voice
She let out an exasperated sigh "I areatest supporter I know that he is wise, eary, decent and kind He saw saving the country-a united country-as his calling, his duty under God I believe he is our salvation I would never want to hurt the man!" she told him
"Pretty speech, now that you are captured," he told her
She set her hands on her hips "Well, you&039;re just a fool, because you&039;re holding us, and the man who you know as Gator is still out there so you&039;re not Gator, how do you know that your friend isn&039;t?"
She stared at him, speechless for a minute "Because he&039;s not! Because I know Richard He&039;s no murderer Yes, fine, he&039;s a blockade runner Until the war is over, this is the Confederate States of A what he can to see that Southern children eat!"
"So noble," Finn said ht to run around judging people you don&039;t know"
"No, I aht before a tribunal"
"I would think that you need evidence to convict us of anything"
"We have a witness sitting in prison right now, ready to do just that His life will be spared when he identifies Gator," Finn said "You&039;ll be decently treated in transit and while awaiting trial As will the suspect"
He started to walk away Incensed, she followed hi his way
"You&039;re an idiot!" she told him
"And you&039;re a prisoner Leave me alone-before I see that you&039;re shackled"
She drew herself up with dignity "You can&039;t shackle me, not really," she informed him
"Believe it or not, I can"
"You said that you knohat I am," she said softly "But do you? Do you really know exactly what I am?"
"I do"
"And how can that be?"
"Because, Miss Fox," he began, pushing past her, "I am what you are"
HE SHOULD PUT HIS PRISONER into shackles, Finn thought His shackles, specially designed of wood and silver, with a unique configuration of crosses intricately laid into the ork They had been blessed and could contain alht slowly began to ease into the golden rays of dawn, he mused on his captive
At the moment, it wasn&039;t really necessary He couldn&039;t shake her off if he wanted to She wouldn&039;t attempt escape without her friend
No, she wouldn&039;t need restraints
He found hi about the relationship between the two, and he was surprised to discover that he was annoyed with his own turn of thought He&039;d wanted to capture the wretched wo He hadn&039;t realized then exactly why she had escaped so easily, because her-their-hereditary disposition was rare
He should have known then He should have at least suspected
But he hadn&039;t
And now, he knew This, of course, ued
"Agent Dunne!"
He heard his nah the scruffy brush and trees that dotted the central area of the island It was Billy
He leaped down easily, soundlessly, and walked along the path created by his own forage through the growth until he reached the young ain
"Yes, sea just behind the boy&039;s back
Billy spun around, startled
"There&039;s water, sir The arh here before There&039;s a cistern, filled ater The captain wanted ed a trunk of fresh clothing He thought youthe disco a bit fresher"
"That&039;s very courteous"
Billy produced a neatly folded stack of clothing-plain blue breeches and a cotton shirt They&039;d probably do well enough; he was taller than Tre would be far more co
"The captain respects your mission, sir," Billy told him
Finn nodded in return to the statement "Where would this cistern be, Billy? I saw a fair amount of the island, but not a cistern"
"Extreent Dunne I can escort you there"
Finn started to tell him that it wouldn&039;t be necessary, but he remembered that Billy was familiar with the island of Key West-and its inhabitants
"So, Billy, how long have you been at Fort Zachary Taylor?" Finn asked hient Dunne I was there at the outbreak of the war I was there when the Union forces dug in-after Florida joined secession"
Finn looked over at the h to be in uniform-much less have spent years at the fort"
"I&039;ent Dunne Older than reed
"So, where did you hail froo And will you head back when the war is over?"
Billy smiled and shook his head "No, sir, I will not I love the island There&039;s a breeze in the air, even on the hottest day And the ocean is there, and the folkswell, so over Many are different, and in a world where they are accepted Men grew rich on salvage, and then no one questioned where they came froo where they cooes on, then I will be home in Key West"
"So, you know the local population fairly well," Finn said
"Indeed"
"And they are Southern syed "The state was split on the vote fro There&039;s been talk of an &039;East&039; and a &039;West&039; Florida Sure, like men everywhere, the enerals" He paused "Talk has changed, though, since the actual fighting started No one is running around saying, &039;We&039;re going to whip their tails in teeks,&039; or any other such nonsense, neither side No one has really had their tail whipped, and we&039;ve all watched teeks turn into four bitter years? God alone kno long it can go on Some folks, of course, talk about the draft riots in New York, but, hell, Lincoln is president again, and that man is as tenacious as a rat terrier! So, the old coots at the bars talk, and sometimes they&039;re rude when the Union soldiers are about, and sometimes, some lets out a squeak for the Union Mostly, folks just want to et by, and it is an island, so we&039;re pretty isolated"
"Except for the blockade runners"
Billy shrugged
"And you know the te captured tonight-Miss Fox and Mr Anderson"
Billy nodded
"What kind of talk have you heard from them?"
Billy looked at him and exhaled "I&039;ve seen Miss Fox a fair amount-Mr Anderson, not so rave and somber, but courteous She serves sometimes at Seminole Pete&039;s Her mom and Pete were awful close From what I heard, her father wasn&039;t around much Cauess ally, I guess they weren&039;t There&039;s soirls on the island who think they&039;re all social princesses or the like, &039;cause their fathers or grandfathers or uncles or what have you were the first A fancy houses But you ask me? Miss Fox, she&039;s the real deal She knows her uess that hurt her bad But she&039;s good She helps out at the church, helps with the sick and injured-and she&039;s never seemed to care if it was a Yank from the fort or a Rebel off the island"
"Sounds like you&039;ve so of a fancy for the lass, seaman," Finn said
Billy flushed "Oh, she&039;s not for ent Dunne No, no, she&039;s not for me"
"And why do you say that?"
Billy looked at hi his face for a ent Dunne You can tell by the way a woman looks at you, as if you could be the h, but there&039;s nothing of ic or mischief in her eyes when she does so, and I know-I&039;d not be what she anting"
Finn thought about that He was silent as they walked, thrashing through the trees as h
"Soenda, Billy They can be more like a man They see a purpose in life, and they have to follow that purpose"
"Maybe that&039;s what it is, sir But what purpose would that be? I think she loves her home Loves Key West"
"And does she love Richard Anderson?" Finn asked
Billy grinned "I don&039;t see the locals all that much, but, yes, from what I&039;ve seen and heard, yes Why, you see, his father was hanged His father was a pirate And the two of theal truth is truth, soa bastard and a pirate? Even in Key West, such a state of birth calls for the whispers And the rich girls-half of thely as sin-keep up a barrier Tara-she&039;s just not one of the defensively of her position
No, she would not be one of theht?
Like her love for the South?
And, yes, when she had spoken about Lincoln, there had been such a depth of sincerity in her words
Almost as if they shared their opinion of thelaazines across the country, belittled by his political opponents and appearing years older on a daily basis
"The cistern is ahead, sir, just ahead," Billy said
"Thank you Extend ratitude to the captain, as well It see, and there&039;s hope ill see a rescue ship on the horizon soon," Finn said
Billy nodded and stepped back
Finn continued forward and then paused
Ahead of hiineer, but he could see that the planning had been well executed The ground here was higher It must have been the oldest section of the island The coral rock beneath the scrub in the area made an excellent filter, while the water flowed from the catch basin of the cistern to form a little freshwater pool Had it been only the cistern there, what fresh water that was collected would have grown stagnant
As he came closer, he realized that he was not alone
The sun was just rising in the east and the sky was slowly beco pink and yellow, but those colors were still vibrant between layers of ht
And there, silhouetted on the horizon, was the woel-or deh she seeht She had shed her salt-logged clothing, and done her best in the cold water to bathe
She was there, body slightly arched, head thrown back as she rinsed and tossed her hair, body at a graceful arch that allowed an almost mystical, mermaid-view of her torso, waist and breasts The ?
He stood there, dead still and silent, and aching
The war It took so otten what it was like to see so so beautiful To wantwant a wo desire
He stepped back
He closed his eyes, and willed the vision to leave his mind He realized that it never would
He opened his eyes She still didn&039;t know that he was there She e on the shore, and quickly slipped back into it, shivering The
She paused for a moment, tense as she looked at the sky For a moment, he could almost feel her intense desire to escape Her shoulders fell
Richard The son of the hanged pirate
She was going to return to the caht Richard was there
For a htening And then he remembered that he had a cause himself, that he&039;d never been a fool for a wolect duty
He waited until he watched her walk toward the foliage closer to the beach, intent on returning to the caher, and it caught the dark vibrant red within the tresses of her freshly washed hair
Longing wedged in his throat, and he felt that he one, he gritted his teeth and mentally willed himself to remember his quest He hurried to the little pool created by the cistern, stripped his clothing and nearly dove into the shallows, he was so eager to feel the icy blast of the water
And it was cold?
He stayed, and he washed away the seawater, but for the life of him, he could not wash away the vision that had so entranced him